Appearance Hoods, spoilers, custom mods, accessories, etc.

Water In Taillights

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 12-31-2007, 05:44 PM
  #1  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
Laymaster's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Old Bridge, NJ 08857
Posts: 658
Water In Taillights

For years i've gotten a little condensation in my taillights (especially the driver side). Today I see that I have a fair amount of water in it (enough to see it slosh around). Is there anything I can do to get rid of it/prevent it from happening aside from drilling a hole in the bottom? Where would you recommend drilling? Anyone else have this problem? Thanks in advance.
Laymaster is offline  
Old 12-31-2007, 07:26 PM
  #2  
Registered User
 
Blown350ZZ4's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Alcohaulin Ass
Posts: 727
I had the same thing happening in my 99 Honda Accord. I simply took off the light housing and let it air out overnight with a little help of a hair dryer. I have never taken taken the housing off in a LS1 4th gen, but I would assume it would be a similar set up. I will warn you though, putting the housing back in place the right way was a bitch.

Nick
Blown350ZZ4 is offline  
Old 01-01-2008, 12:39 AM
  #3  
Registered User
 
CALL911's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: IN
Posts: 3,225
The only for sure way to get that amount of water out will probably be to drill I reccomend taking out the whole tailight and searching for a place to drill on the bottom somewhere where once the tailight is put back in, the hole wouldn't be noticed. Keep in mind you don't need a big hole, just one big enough to drain the water out (maybe a few millimeters). Once you have the majority of the water out, you could just place the tailights someplace dry to finish taking out the rest of the condensation, maybe near a fireplace or something (not to close as you don't want the plastic to melt). Using a hairdryer may work as well. This might take a while, but if the ambient air is dry, and all you have is trace amounts of condensation, it will eventually go away.

Once you have successfully gotten all the water out, get some silicone caulk from Lowes or Home Depot, and seal up the hole(s) you drilled as well as around the back of the tailights where the plastic comes together. If you take your time, and are carefull, you can successfully seal up the tailights making them water tight so this won't happen again.

I have carbon fiber altezza tailights on my Z28 in my sig, and anytime I drove the car in the rain, or sometimes even washing the car would get water inside them. Not as much as the amount you are talking about, but still enough to annoy me. I sealed mine up with silicone caulk and not one small water droplet has gotten inside them since.
CALL911 is offline  
Old 01-01-2008, 07:51 AM
  #4  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
Laymaster's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Old Bridge, NJ 08857
Posts: 658
Thanks for the advice. I have always gotten a little condensation in my taillights but I believe the large amount of water formed from me not really driving the car much over the past 2-3 years. I figure using the car (heat from taillights, movement) kept the water down to a minimum.
Laymaster is offline  
Old 01-01-2008, 08:16 AM
  #5  
Registered User
 
Greed4Speed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: FTW, TX
Posts: 4,508
After you dry things out. Make sure to reseal the housing.
Greed4Speed is offline  
Old 01-01-2008, 08:24 AM
  #6  
Registered User
 
CALL911's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: IN
Posts: 3,225
Originally Posted by Laymaster
Thanks for the advice. I have always gotten a little condensation in my taillights but I believe the large amount of water formed from me not really driving the car much over the past 2-3 years. I figure using the car (heat from taillights, movement) kept the water down to a minimum.
Having the lights on now and then is about the only thing that driving the car will help. A good sealed up set of tailights wont get water in them at all no matter how long it sits.
CALL911 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Jeff1904
General 1967-2002 F-Body Tech
5
06-05-2016 05:00 PM
93 RedBird
Fuel and Ignition
4
11-15-2015 08:24 AM
PopoFormula
LT1 Based Engine Tech
5
10-12-2015 04:19 PM
colts0455
LT1 Based Engine Tech
5
09-27-2015 01:07 PM



Quick Reply: Water In Taillights



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:19 PM.